WORLD THEATRE
Mon 25th Sep 1967, 20:30 on BBC Home Service Basic
Sybil Thorndike Festival
Dame Sybil stars in some of her favourite plays
8: Captain Brassbound's Conversion by Bernard Shaw
Shortened version for radio by Cedric Messina
Produced By: Graham Gauld
Cast in order of speaking:
Narrator: Alexander John
Drinkwater: James McManus
Rankin: Denys Hawthorne
Porter: Frank Henderson
Sir Howard Hallam: Cecil Parker
Lady Cicely Waynflete: Sybil Thorndike
Marzo: Robert Rietty
Captain Brassbound: Gabriel Woolf
Redbrook: Bernard Brown
Johnson: Ralph Truman
Osman: Frank Henderson
Sidi el Assif: Alaric Cotter
The Cadi: Antony Viccars
Bluejacket: Nigel Clayton
Captain Kearney: John Justin
Originally published in George Bernard Shaw's 1901 collection Three Plays for Puritans and first performed in 1900, Captain Brassbound's Conversion is the drama of its title character, a sort of refined latter-day pirate who resides in Morocco. When two jaded English tourists, Sir Howard Hallam, a judge of the criminal bench, and Lady Cicely Waynflete, his sister-in-law, arrive at the Moroccan coast and endeavor to explore the interior, Captain Brassbound takes up the charge as their guide. However as they reach an ancient Moorish castle we discover that the confidence these two have placed in Captain Brassbound is misguided and a secret plot of revenge unfolds. While not Shaw's best known work, Captain Brassbound's Conversion is a fantastic work of comedic drama in which Shaw exhibits his skill at developing rich and interesting characters.
[goodreads]
